If you want to go whole hog into centralized configuration management, you can look at tools like Puppet and Chef. One can argue that this way lies both madness and salvation.

Depending on what you're trying to do and how many machines you're handling, investing in running a Puppet or Chef server may be like hammering a nail by dropping an aircraft carrier on it. On the other hand, an aircraft carrier may be what you actually need, depending on what you're trying to do.